Designing preferred vehicle routes based on driving scores from other vehicles

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for designing a preferred route for a vehicle. The route designing system receives a request from the vehicle for a preferred route from a first geographical point to a second geographical point. The route designing system analyzes the request and obtains driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles. The route designing unit may identify a set of preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on the driving scores. The route designing system then determines a preferred route based, at least in part, on the driving scores associated with drivers of the other vehicles. The preferred route is designed to minimize the likelihood of proximity to non-preferred vehicles and maximize the likelihood of proximity to preferred vehicles.

BACKGROUND

Insurance companies value the safety of drivers and the general public.Accordingly, preventing clusters of bad driving behaviors is a matter ofgood policy. Although techniques exist to generally encourage safedriving, they might not provide a mechanism whereby drivers may avoidproximity to bad drivers while traveling from one geographical point toanother. Further, these techniques might not allow good drivers tomaintain proximity to each other.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

A first aspect described herein provides a route designing system. Theroute designing system may include at least one processor. The routedesigning system may be configured to, in operation, receive a requestfor a preferred route from a first geographical point to a secondgeographical point for a first vehicle. Based on the request, the routedesigning system may identify a plurality of potential routes from thefirst geographical point to the second geographical point for the firstvehicle. The route designing system may then determine driving scoresassociated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein theplurality of vehicles does not include the first vehicle. Based at leastin part on the driving scores, the route designing system may identify aset of preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles within theplurality of vehicles. Further, the route designing system may associatevehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and vehicles the set ofnon-preferred vehicles with the plurality of potential routes. The routedesigning system may determine a preferred route for the first vehiclefrom the plurality of potential routes, such that the preferred routemaximizes a likelihood of proximity to the first portion of the set ofpreferred vehicles and minimizes the likelihood of proximity to thesecond portion of the set of non-preferred vehicles.

A second aspect described herein provides a computer-assisted method ofdesigning a preferred route. A computing system may receive a requestfor a preferred route from a first geographical point to a secondgeographical point for a first vehicle. Based on the request, thecomputing system may identify a plurality of potential routes from thefirst geographical point to the second geographical point for the firstvehicle. The computing system may then determine driving scoresassociated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein theplurality of vehicles does not include the first vehicle. Based at leastin part on the driving scores, the computing system may identify a setof preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles within theplurality of vehicles. Further, the computing system may associatevehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and vehicles in the set ofnon-preferred vehicles with the plurality of potential routes. Thecomputing system may then determine a preferred route for the firstvehicle from the plurality of potential routes, such that the preferredroute maximizes a likelihood of proximity to the first portion of theset of preferred vehicles and minimizes the likelihood of proximity tothe second portion of the set of non-preferred vehicles.

The details of these and other aspects of the disclosure are set forthin the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features andadvantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the description anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of the disclosure may be implemented in certain parts, steps,and embodiments that will be described in detail in the followingdescription and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which likereference materials indicate similar elements. It will be appreciatedwith the benefit of this disclosure that the steps illustrated in theaccompanying figures may be performed in other than the recited orderand that one or more of the steps may be optional. It will also beappreciated with the benefit of this disclosure that one or morecomponents illustrated in the accompanying figures may be positioned inother than the disclosed arrangement and that one or more of thecomponents illustrated may be optional.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment in which a route designingsystem may be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram illustrating various components anddevices associated with an example route designing system, according toone or more aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of example method steps for collecting andanalyzing telematics data, and calculating a driving score based on thetelematics data.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of a routedesigning system according to one or more aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of example method steps for designing a preferredroute for a vehicle.

FIG. 6 is an example user interface of a route designing systemconfigured to provide alerts according to one or more aspects of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward a route designingsystem. The route designing system receives requests for preferredroutes for a vehicle (e.g., a requesting vehicle, a primary vehicle,etc.) from a first geographical point to a second geographical point,receives driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles,identifies preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on the drivingscores, and designs preferred routes in which the vehicle maintains athreshold non-preferred distance from at least a portion of thenon-preferred vehicles. The route designing system allows the vehicle tocontinue maintain a threshold non-preferred distance from at least aportion of the non-preferred vehicles for the duration of a trip byreceiving updated driving scores from other vehicles and accordinglyupdating the preferred routes. In determining preferred routes, theroute designing system may be subject to traffic rules and otherregulations. Additionally, the route designing system may provide alertsto the driver of the vehicle regarding the preferred routes and/ornon-preferred vehicles. The driver of the vehicle may be a customer ofan insurance provider (e.g., an insurance provider implementing thesystem) or a customer of another, different insurance provider.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used hereinare for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof, as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof. As used in this description, a set refers to acollection of one or more elements. Further, as used in thisdescription, a set may refer to the whole or a number less than thewhole. For example, a set of vehicles may include all vehicles or aportion of all vehicles. As used in this description, a driver refers toany individual operating a vehicle. The individual may or may not holdan insurance policy (e.g., with an insurance provider implementing thesystem). As such, the individual may be a customer of an insuranceprovider implementing the system, or a customer of another, differentinsurance provider.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a route designing system 101 in avehicle guidance system 100 that may be used according to one or moreillustrative embodiments of a disclosure. The route designing system 101may have a processor 103 for controlling the overall operation of theroute designing system 101 and its associated components, including RAM105, ROM 107, input/output unit 109, and memory 115. The route designingsystem 101, along with one or more additional devices (e.g., terminals141, 151) may correspond to one or more special-purpose computingdevices, such as route planning computing devices or systems, configuredas described herein for receiving requests for preferred routes for avehicle from a first geographical point to a second geographical point,receiving driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles,identifying preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on the drivingscores, and designing preferred routes in which the vehicle maintains athreshold non-preferred distance from at least some of the non-preferredvehicles. Driving scores may be received from one or more telematicsdevices, vehicle sensors, vehicle subsystems, or remote systems (e.g.,insurance system), and then transmitted to a system or device locatedremotely relative to the vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, in someexamples, the system or device receiving the driving score may belocated within the vehicle. Driving scores may also be received from amobile computing device or third-party telematics system.

Input/Output (I/O) devices 109 may include a microphone, keypad, touchscreen, and/or stylus through which a user of a route designing system101 may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual, and/or graphical output. Software may be stored withinmemory 115 and/or storage to provide instructions to processor 103 forenabling the route designing system 101 to perform various functions.For example, memory 115 may store software used by the route designingsystem 101, such as an operating system 117, application programs 119,and an associated internal database 121. Processor 103 and itsassociated special-purpose computing devices may allow the vehicleguidance system 100 to execute a series of computer-readableinstructions for receiving requests for preferred routes for a vehicle,receiving driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles,identifying preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on the drivingscores, and designing preferred routes in which the vehicle maintains athreshold distance from at least a portion of the non-preferredvehicles.

The route designing system 101 may operate in a networked environment100 supporting connections to one or more remote computers, such asterminals/devices 141 and 151. The route designing system 101, andrelated terminals/devices 141 and 151, may be in signal communicationwith special-purpose devices installed in vehicles, special-purposemobile computer devices that may travel within vehicles, orspecial-purpose devices outside of vehicles that are configured toprocess telematics data and calculate driving scores. Thus,terminates/devices 141 and 161 may each include personal computers(e.g., laptop, desktop, or tablet computers), servers (e.g., webservers, database servers), vehicle-based devices (e.g., on-boardvehicle computers, short-range vehicle communication systems, telematicsdevices), or mobile communication devices (e.g., mobile phones, portablecomputing devices, wearable devices, and the like), and may include someor all of the elements described above with respect to the routedesigning system 101.

The network connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network(LAN) 125 and a wide area network (WAN) 129, a wirelesstelecommunications network 133, but may also include other networks.When used in a LAN networking environment, the route designing system101 may be connected to the LAN 125 through a network interface oradapter 123. When used in a WAN networking environment, the routedesigning system 101 may include a modem 127 or other means forestablishing communications over the WAN 129, such as a network 131(e.g., the Internet). When used in a wireless telecommunications network133, the route designing system 101 may include one or moretransceivers, digital signal processors, and additional circuitry andsoftware for communicating with wireless computing device 141 (e.g.,mobile phones, short-range vehicle communication systems, vehicletelematics devices, wearable devices, etc.) via one or more networkdevices 135 (e.g., base transceiver stations) in the wireless network133.

It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areillustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween computers may be used. The existence of any of various networkprotocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and ofvarious wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi,and WiMAX, is presumed, and the various computing devices describedherein may be configured to communicate using any of these networkprotocols and technologies.

Additionally, one or more application programs 119 used by the routedesigning system 101 may include computer executable instructions (e.g.,instructions for route request programs, driving score collection andanalysis programs, and route designing programs) for receiving requestsfor preferred routes for a vehicle, receiving driving scores associatedwith drivers of other vehicles, identifying preferred and non-preferredvehicles based on the driving scores, and designing preferred routes inwhich the vehicle maintains a threshold distance from at least a portionof the non-preferred vehicles.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example implementation of a routingsystem 200. The system 200, in this example, includes a route designingsystem 202. The route designing system 202, described in further detailbelow, determines a preferred route from a first geographical point to asecond geographical point for a vehicle. The route designing system 202determines the preferred route based on driving scores associated withdrivers of other vehicles along a plurality of identified potentialroutes. The driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles maybe based on vehicle telematics data associated with each of the othervehicles. Vehicle telematics data, as used in this description, refersto how a driver operates a vehicle with respect to, e.g., accelerating,decelerating, braking, turning, signaling, lane usage, adequate vehiclespacing, speed, distraction management, and other driving-relatedoperations performed by the driver at the vehicle. A vehicle telematicsdevice may be installed at, attached to, or in signal communication witha vehicle or various systems or components of the vehicle. Such avehicle telematics device may be used to collect and transmit vehicletelematics data. For instance, the vehicle telematics device 212 may bein communication with one or more sensors 216 within vehicle 206. Insome examples, the vehicle 204 may also be equipped with a vehicletelematics device 220, where the vehicle telematics device 220 may be incommunication with one or more sensors 222 within vehicle 204. Varioustypes of sensors and systems monitored will be discussed more fullybelow.

The route designing system 202 may contain some or all of thehardware/software components as the route designing system 101 depictedin FIG. 1. The route designing system 202 is a special-purpose computingdevice that is configured to receive and process requests for apreferred route from a first geographical point to a second geographicalpoint from a vehicle 204. The route designing system 202 may communicatewith a vehicle 204 (e.g., to receive requests for a preferred route,provide a preferred route, provide notifications, provide alerts, etc.)wirelessly via a special-purpose mobile computing device 210 or througha route designing unit 208 which may be (i) installed and attached tothe vehicle 204, (ii) located in the vehicle 204 during the vehicle'soperation, or (iii) located remotely relative to the vehicle 204.

The route designing system 202 is also configured to receive drivingscores from one or more vehicles 206, such that information may bereceived (i) from telematics devices installed and attached to thevehicle 206, (ii) from telematics devices located in the vehicle 206during the vehicle's operation (e.g., at a mobile special-purposecomputing device), or (iii) from a special-purpose computing devicelocated remotely relative to the vehicle 206 that received the vehicletelematics data from telematics devices installed in, attached to, orlocated in the vehicle 206 as described in (i) or (ii). The routedesigning system 202 may also be configured to receive driving scores ortelematics data associated with vehicles 206 from one or morethird-party telematics systems. Additionally, the route designing system202 may receive additional data relevant to determining a preferredroute from other non-vehicle data sources, such as an external trafficdatabase containing traffic data (e.g., amounts or volume of traffic,average driving speed, traffic speed distribution, and frequency andtypes of accidents, etc.) at various times and locations, externalweather database containing weather data (e.g., rain snow, sleet andhail amounts, temperatures, wind, road conditions, visibility, etc.) atvarious times and locations, and other external data sources containingdriving hazard data (e.g., road hazards, traffic accidents, downedtrees, power outages, construction zones, school zones, and naturaldisasters, etc.). As such, the route designing system 202 may be furtherconfigured to send and receive data to and from a third-party system 230(e.g., traffic databases, weather databases, insurance systems, etc.)and other systems associated with vehicle operation and drivingconditions.

In some examples, the route designing system 202 may acquire a drivingscore associated with a driver of a vehicle 206 directly from thevehicle 206, where the driving score may be calculated at or by thevehicle 206 itself. The vehicle 206 may be, for example, an automobile,motorcycle, scooter, bus, recreational vehicle, boat, bicycle, or othervehicle for which vehicle telematics data may be collected and analyzed,and for which an associated driver may be provided a driving score basedon the vehicle telematics data. The vehicle 206 may include one or moresensors 216, which are capable of detecting or recording variousconditions at the vehicle and operating parameters of the vehicle 206.For example, the sensors 216 may detect, transmit, or store datacorresponding to the vehicle's location (e.g., GPS coordinates), speedand direction, rates of acceleration, deceleration, braking, andspecific instances of sudden acceleration, braking, and swerving. Thesensors 216 may also detect, transmit, and store data received from thevehicle's internal systems, such as impact to the body of the vehicle,air bag deployment, headlights usage, brake light operation, dooropening and closing, door locking and unlocking, cruise control usage,hazard lights usage, windshield wiper usage, horn usage, turn signalusage, seat belt usage, phone and radio usage within the vehicle,maintenance performed on the vehicle, and other data collected by thevehicle's computer systems.

Additional sensors 216 may detect and store external driving conditions,for example, external temperature, rain, snow, light levels, and sunposition for driver visibility. Additional sensors 216 may also detectand store data relating to compliance with traffic laws and theobservance of traffic signals and signs. Additional sensors 216 mayfurther detect and store data relating to the maintenance of the vehicle204, such as the engine status, oil level, engine coolant temperature,odometer reading, the level of fuel in the fuel tank, engine revolutionsper minute (RPMs), tire pressure, or combinations thereof.

The vehicle 206 may also include cameras or proximity sensors 216capable of recording additional conditions inside or outside of thevehicle 206. For example, internal cameras may detect conditions such asthe number of passengers and the types of passengers (e.g., adults,children, teenagers, handicapped, etc.) in the vehicles, and potentialsources of driver distraction within the vehicle (e.g., pets, phoneusage, unsecured objects in the vehicle). Sensors 216 may also beconfigured to collect a driver's movements or the condition of a driver.For example, the vehicle 206 may include sensors 216 that monitor adriver's movements, such as the driver's eye position and/or headposition, etc. Additional sensors 216 may collect data regarding thephysical or mental state of the driver, such as fatigue or intoxication.The condition of the driver may be determined through the movements ofthe driver or through other sensors, for example, sensors that detectthe content of alcohol in the air or blood alcohol content of thedriver, such as a breathalyzer. Further, the vehicle 206 may includesensors 216 that are capable of detecting other nearby vehicles, trafficlevels, road conditions, traffic obstructions, animals, cyclists,pedestrians, and other conditions that may factor into an analysis ofvehicle telematics data. Certain vehicle sensors 216 may also collectinformation regarding the driver's route choice, whether the driverfollows a given route, and to classify the type of trip (e.g., commute,errand, new route, etc.). A Global Positioning System (GPS), locationalsensors positioned inside the vehicle 206, and/or locational sensors ordevices external to the vehicle 206 may be used to determine the route,trip type, lane position, and other vehicle position or location data.

The data collected by the vehicle sensors 216 may be stored or analyzedwithin the respective vehicle 206, or may be transmitted to one or moreexternal devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, sensor data may betransmitted to the driving score transmission unit 214, which may be acollection of special-purpose computing devices that are interconnectedand in signal communication with each other. The special-purposecomputing devices may be programmed with a particular set ofinstructions that, when executed, perform functions associated withusing vehicle telematics data to calculate and transmit a driving scorefor a driver associated with the vehicle 206. The driving scoretransmission unit 214 may be a separate special-purpose computing deviceor may be integrated into one or more components within the vehicle 206,such as the telematics device 212, or in the internal computing systemsof the vehicle 206. In other embodiments, the driving score transmissionunit 214 may be remotely located relative to the vehicle 206. As such,the driving score calculated by the driving score transmission unit 214may be transmitted by the driving score transmission unit 214 to one ormore remote computing systems, such as the route designing system 202. Atelematics device 212 may be a computing device containing many or allof the hardware/software components as the route designing system 101depicted in FIG. 1. As discussed above, the telematics device 212 mayreceive vehicle telematics data from vehicle sensors 216, and maytransmit the data to one or more external computer systems (e.g., routedesigning system 202, insurance system 230, etc.) over a wirelesstransmission network. Telematics devices 212 may also be configured todetect or determine additional types of data relating to real-timedriving and the condition of the vehicle 206. In certain embodiments,the telematics device 212 may contain or may be integral with one ormore of the vehicle sensors 216. The telematics devices 212 may alsostore vehicle information associated with the respective vehicle 206,for example, the make, model, trim (or sub-model), year, and/or enginespecifications, vehicle identification number (VIN) as well as otherinformation such as vehicle owner or driver information, insuranceinformation, and financing information for the vehicle 106. In someembodiments, the telematics devices 212 may store an indicator as towhether the vehicle 206 is an autonomous vehicle, and if so, themanufacturer of the vehicle 206 and/or the autonomous assist technologyinstalled in the vehicle 206.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the telematics device 212 may receivevehicle telematics data from vehicle sensors 216, and may transmit thedata to a driving score transmission unit 214. However, in otherexamples, one or more of the vehicle sensors 216 may be configured totransmit data directly to the driving score transmission unit 214without using a telematics device 212. For instance, a telematics device212 may be configured to receive and transmit data from certain vehiclesensors 216, while other sensors may be configured to directly transmitdata to a driving score transmission unit 214 without using thetelematics device 212. Thus, telematics devices 212 may be optional incertain embodiments.

In certain embodiments, a mobile special-purpose computing device 218within the vehicle 206 may be programmed with instructions to collectvehicle telematics data from the telematics device 212 or from thevehicle sensors 216, and then to transmit the telematics data to thedriving score transmission unit 214 and other external computingdevices. The mobile special-purpose computing device 218 may include anaccelerometer, a GPS unit, and a telecommunication unit. Softwareapplications executing on the mobile special-purpose computing devices218 may be configured to detect vehicle telematics independently and/ormay communicate with the vehicle sensors 216 to receive additionalvehicle telematics data. For example, the mobile special-purposecomputing device 218, equipped with an accelerometer and/or a GPS unit,may determine vehicle location, speed, direction, and other basicvehicle telematics data without communicating with the vehicle sensors216, or any vehicle system. In other examples, software on the mobilespecial-purpose computing device 218 may be configured to receive someor all of the vehicle telematics data collected by vehicle sensors 216.In yet other examples, software on the mobile special-purpose computingdevice 218 may be configured to receive some or all of the vehicletelematics data from third-party telematics systems.

When the mobile special-purpose computing device 218 within the vehicle206 is used to detect vehicle telematics data or to receive vehicletelematics data from the vehicle 206, the mobile special-purposecomputing device 218 may store, analyze, or transmit the vehicletelematics data to one or more other devices. For example, the mobilespecial-purpose computing device 218 may transmit vehicle telematicsdata directly to a driving score transmission unit 214, and thus may beused in conjunction with or instead of the telematics device 212.Moreover, the processing components of the mobile special-purposecomputing device 218 may be used to collect and analyze telematics datato calculate a driving score for a driver associated with the vehicle206. Therefore, in certain embodiments, the mobile special-purposecomputing device 212 may be used in conjunction with, or in place of,the driving score transmission unit 214.

The vehicle 206 may include a driving score transmission unit 214, whichmay be a separate computing device or may be integrated into one or moreother components within the vehicle 206, such as the telematics device212, the internal computing systems of the vehicle 206, or the mobilespecial-purpose computing device 218. As discussed above, the drivingscore transmission unit 214 may also be implemented by computing devicesindependent from the vehicle 206, such as one or more computer systems240. In any of these examples, the driving score transmission unit 214may contain some or all of the hardware/software as the route designingsystem 101 depicted in FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, at least some of the functionality of the drivingscore transmission unit 214, such as collecting and analyzing vehicletelematics data and calculating a driving score, may be performed by anexternal system rather than by the individual vehicle 206. In suchimplementations, the vehicle 206 may collect and transmit vehicletelematics data and transmit the vehicle operation data directly to anexternal system, such as the route designing system 202 or anotherspecial-purpose computer device configured to calculate a driving scorebased on vehicle telematics data. In such examples, the driving scoretransmission unit 214 may be optional.

The driving score transmission unit 214 may be implemented in hardwareand/or software configured to receive vehicle telematics data from thevehicle sensors 216, the telematics device 212, and/or other vehicletelematics data sources. After receiving the vehicle data, the drivingscore transmission unit 214 may perform functions to collect and analyzethe vehicle telematics data, and calculate a driving score based on thevehicle telematics data. Further description and examples of thefunctions performed by the driving score transmission unit 214 aredescribed below.

In some examples, the driving score transmission unit 214 maycommunicate a driver's driving score to an insurance system 230. Thedriving score transmission unit 214 may be in signal communication withthe insurance system 230 via a network such as those described above.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of example method steps for collecting andanalyzing telematics data, and calculating a driving score based on thetelematics data. As described above, these example steps may beperformed by the driving score transmission unit 214 or by the routedesigning system 202. As such, various components of the driving scoretransmission unit 214 and/or the route designing system 202 may be usedto perform these method steps.

In at least one embodiment, the driving score transmission unit 214 mayreceive and analyze vehicle telematics data (block 302) from the vehicle206 (e.g., by a telematics device 212 installed at or attached to thevehicle, and/or by one or more sensors 216 installed at, attached to,and/or remotely located relative to the vehicle), from a mobilespecial-purpose computing device 218 (e.g., a mobile applicationinstalled on the mobile special-purpose computing device 218), or acombination thereof. The driving score transmission unit 214 may analyzethe vehicle telematics data to identify one or more driving events, oneor more driving behaviors, and/or one or more driving conditions asdescribed above. In some examples, the driving score transmission unit214 may receive vehicle telematics data from the various sources inreal-time, or may receive a compiled version of the vehicle telematicsdata from a central location. In examples where the driving scoretransmission unit 214 receives the vehicle telematics data in real-time,the driving score transmission unit 214 may associate the vehicletelematics data received from the various sources with a single trip. Assuch, the various sources of the vehicle telematics data, or the drivingscore transmission unit 214, may assign a unique trip identifier to thevehicle telematics data, such that the driving score transmission unit214 associates all vehicle telematics data assigned to a particularunique trip identifier with a single trip. In examples where the drivingscore transmission unit 214 receives a compiled version of the vehicletelematics data, the driving score transmission unit 214 may receive alltelematics data associated with a particular trip, where the trip may bedesignated by a unique trip identifier.

In some examples, the driving score transmission unit 214 may determinea set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors upon which tobase the driving score (block 304). The set of preferred drivingbehaviors may represent driving behaviors for which the driving scoretransmission unit 214 may reward a driver by increasing the drivingscore. The set of non-preferred driving behaviors may represent drivingbehaviors for which the driving score transmission unit 214 may penalizea driver by decreasing the driving score. As such, a driving behaviormay be associated with a numeric value. In some examples, the numericalvalue associated with preferred driving behaviors may be positive, whilethe numerical value associated with non-preferred driving behaviors maybe negative. The set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviorsmay be stored in a database communicatively coupled with the drivingscore transmission unit 214. Additionally or alternatively, the set ofpreferred driving behaviors and the set of preferred and non-preferreddriving behaviors may be stored at an insurance system 230. In suchexamples, the driving score transmission unit 214 may retrieve some orall of the set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors from aninsurance system 230 corresponding to an insurance company of a policyheld by the driver of the vehicle 206. The set of preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors retrieved from an insurance system 230may be used in place of or in conjunction with the set of preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors retrieved from a databasecommunicatively coupled with the driving score transmission unit 214.

Preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors may be defined as one ormore driving events. A driving event may be based on the speed,acceleration, braking, turning, distance to other vehicles, seat beltusage, turn signal usage, and other vehicle telematics data collectedfrom the vehicle 206. Thus, it will be appreciated that a variety ofdifferent preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors may be definedbased on a variety of driving events. Further, preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors may be defined in terms of distancetravelled (e.g., one hundred miles) and/or time elapsed (e.g., one hour)during a trip (e.g., a period of time starting when the vehicle turnedon and ending when the vehicle is turned off or inactive). For example,a preferred driving behavior based in part on speed may be a tripincluding 1 hour of highway driving within 5 mph of the prescribed timelimit. Conversely, a non-preferred driving behavior based in part onspeed may be a trip including 15 minutes of highway driving at 15 mphabove the prescribed speed limit or average speed of other vehicleswithin a 1 mile radius. An example preferred driving behavior based inpart on braking or deceleration may be a trip including 30 minutes ofcity driving without occurrences of hard braking (e.g., deceleration of7 mph/s or greater, etc.). An example preferred driving behavior basedin part on acceleration may be a trip including 30 minutes of highwaydriving without occurrences of fast acceleration (e.g., acceleration of10 mph/s or greater, etc.). Conversely, an example non-preferred drivingbehavior based in part on acceleration may be a trip including 30minutes of highway driving with multiple occurrences of suddenacceleration and lane changes (i.e., weaving through traffic). Anexample preferred driving behavior based in part on turning may be atrip including 50 miles of driving with only soft turns (e.g., an angleof turn greater than 90°, controlled turns, etc.). Conversely, anon-preferred driving behavior based in part on turning may be a tripincluding multiple sharp turns, sudden turns (e.g., without a turnsignal, etc.) or U-turns. An example preferred driving based in part onturn signal usage may be activating a turn signal at least 100 feetbefore initiating each turn of a trip. In other examples, preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors may be based in part on particulardriving conditions. For instance, a preferred driving behavior may bedriving at least 10 mph below the speed limit during periods of the tripincluding inclement or severe weather (e.g., rain, snow, fog, etc.). Itwill be appreciated that additional or alternative preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors may be defined and implemented toidentify safe and unsafe driving events, respectively, when operating avehicle.

In some examples, the set of preferred and non-preferred drivingbehaviors may be associated categories. For instance, a set of preferredand non-preferred driving behaviors may be associated with a particularinsurance company. In other examples, a set of preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors may be associated with a vehiclemanufacturer. In yet other examples, one set of preferred andnon-preferred driving behaviors may be associated with autonomousvehicles, while another set of preferred and non-preferred drivingbehaviors may be associated with autonomous vehicles. In otherinstances, a set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors may beassociated with contextual information (e.g., age of driver, time ofday, weather conditions, type of roadway, driver characteristics, etc.).Thus, the set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors used tocalculate a driving score may vary for drivers and/or vehicles. Forexample, the set of preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors maydiffer for vehicle telematics data associated with a daytime trip versusa nighttime trip, a city streets trip versus an expressway trip, a tripduring sunny weather versus a trip during rainy/icy conditions, a newdriver versus an experienced driver, etc.

In some embodiments, preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors maybe assigned a weight, where the weight may be used in calculating adriving score. The weight may represent the importance of a particularpreferred or non-preferred driving behavior. As such, a preferred ornon-preferred driving behavior with a larger weight will have moreinfluence on the driving score calculation. Additionally oralternatively, a category may be assigned a weight, whereby one or moreof the preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors associated with thecategory may be assigned a weight according to the weight assigned tothe category. In examples where a category is assigned a particularweight, all preferred and non-preferred driving behaviors associatedwith the category are assigned the same weight. In these examples, evenwhere two vehicles exhibit the same preferred and non-preferred drivingbehaviors, the driving score for these vehicles may be different wherethe two vehicles belong to different categories having differentweights. For instance, an autonomous vehicle exhibiting the samepreferred and non-preferred driving behaviors as a non-autonomousvehicle may have a higher driving score than the non-autonomous vehicle.As such, the route designing system 202 may operate, or may beconfigured to operate, under assumptions that a particular category ofvehicles may be safer than others exhibiting the same or similarpreferred and non-preferred behaviors. In the example of autonomousvehicles, the category weight may be tied to the safety ratings of theautonomous vehicle manufacturer.

In another example, the weight assigned to the category may be used as adefault weight, which may be overridden by a weight assigned speciallyto a preferred or non-preferred driving behavior.

The calculation of a driving score based on the assigned weight will bedescribed in further detail below.

Based on the determined set of preferred and non-preferred drivingbehaviors, the driving score transmission unit 214 may calculate adriving score for the driver associated with the vehicle telematics data(block 306). For each preferred driving behavior and each non-preferreddriving behavior in the set of preferred and non-preferred drivingbehaviors, the driving score transmission unit 214 may calculate abehavior score based on the vehicle telematics data (block 308).Specifically, the driving score transmission unit 214 may firstdetermine whether the driving behavior was exhibited in the vehicletelematics data. For example, where the driving behavior is based onmaintaining an average speed below 50 mph during a trip, the drivingscore transmission unit 214 may determine whether the vehicle telematicsdata for a particular trip reflected an average speed below 50 mph bycomparing the average speed of the trip with the 50 mph speed limit.Accordingly, in some examples, the driving score transmission unit 214may calculate one or more trip metrics based on the vehicle telematicsdata (e.g., average/minimum/maximum speed, total distance travelled,etc.) in order to make a determination as to whether the driver engagedin a preferred or non-preferred driving behavior.

Where the driving score transmission unit 214 determines that the driverengaged in a driving behavior based on the vehicle telematics data, thedriving score transmission unit 214 may use the numerical valueassociated with the driving behavior as the behavior score for thatdriving behavior. The driving score transmission unit 214 may adjust thebehavior score for that driving behavior based on the weight assigned tothe driving behavior (block 310). Where a weight is assigned to adriving behavior, the driving score transmission unit 214 may combinethe behavior score for that driving behavior with the weight of thedriving behavior (e.g., by multiplying the weight and the numericalvalue, etc.) (block 312). Additionally or alternatively, the drivingscore transmission unit 214 may use the weight assigned to the categoryassociated with the driving category to adjust the behavior score forthat driving behavior.

The driving score transmission unit 214 may repeat these method steps(blocks 308, 310, and 312) for all the driving behaviors in the set ofpreferred and non-preferred driving behaviors. As such, the drivingscore transmission unit 214 may calculate a behavior score for eachdriving behavior in the set, and combine (e.g., add) all of the behaviorscores to obtain a driving score based on the vehicle telematics data.The driving score transmission unit 214 will be configured to combineboth positive and negative behavior scores. It will be appreciated thatadditional or alternative mathematical operations may be performed toaggregate the behavior scores for each driving behavior to obtain adriving score.

FIG. 4 shows an example implementation of a route designing system 202.In some example implementations, the route designing system 202 is aspecial-purpose computing device programmed with instructions that, whenexecuted, perform functions associated with vehicle telematics data(and/or driving scores) to determine preferred routes for drivers. Inthese example implementations, the units 402-416 of the route designingsystem 202 correspond to particular sets of instructions embodied assoftware programs residing at the route designing system 202. In otherexample implementations, the route designing system 202 is a collectionof special-purpose computing devices that are interconnected and insignal communication with each other. In these examples, each unit402-416 of the route designing system 202 respectively corresponds to aspecial-purpose computing device programmed with a particular set ofinstructions, that, when executed, perform respective functionsassociated with using vehicle telematics data (and/or driving scores) todetermine preferred routes for drivers. Such special-purpose computingdevices may be, for example, application servers programmed to performthe particular set of functions.

The route designing system 202, in this example, includes various unitsand databases that facilitate receiving requests for preferred routesfor a vehicle from a first geographical point to a second geographicalpoint, receiving driving scores associated with drivers of othervehicles, identifying preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on thedriving scores, and designing preferred routes in which the vehiclemaintains a threshold distance from at least some of the non-preferredvehicles. It will be appreciated that the route designing system 202illustrated in FIG. 4 is shown by way of example and that otherimplementations of the route designing system 202 may include additionalor alternative units and databases without departing from the scope ofthe claimed subject matter. In this example, the route designing system202 includes a request receiver unit 402, a driver score analysis unit404, a route planning unit 406, and a data store 410.

The data store 410 may store information related to drivers of vehiclesrequesting preferred routes, drivers of other vehicles, driver scoresfor drivers associated with other vehicles, and route information. Forexample, the data store 410 may include a driver information database412, a driving scores database 414, and a route information database416. The route designing system 202 may utilize this information inreceiving requests for preferred routes, collecting driver scores fromdrivers of other vehicles, and determining preferred routes based on thedriver scores. It will be appreciated that in other examples the datastore 410 may include additional and/or alternative databases. Forexample, it may be advantageous to store/maintain driver information fordrivers requesting preferred routes separately from drivers of othervehicles from which drivers scores are collected.

The driver information database 412 may store information associatedwith drivers of vehicles (e.g., name of driver, age of driver, contactinformation, vehicle identification, insurance information, etc.). Insome examples, the driver information database 412 may also store thedriver's affiliation with one or more insurance companies. Further, thedriver information database 412 may store driver selected routepreferences. For instance, in addition to safety, a driver may indicatea preference for shortest routes, scenic routes, fuel economy, etc. Theroute designing system 202 may take these preferences into account whendesigning a route for the driver. As such, the route designing system202 may provide different preferred routes for different drivers, evenwhere the drivers request routes between the same two geographicalpoints at the same time of day, where the driver information database412 indicates different route preferences for the drivers.

The driving scores database 414 may store information associated withdriving scores associated with a driver of a vehicle. For example, theinformation may include the vehicle telematics data collected from thevehicle or other sources, and the driving score calculated based on thevehicle telematics data. As such, the driving scores database 414 mayenable the route designing system 202 to maintain a driving score for aplurality of drivers. The driving scores database 414 may maintain,e.g., through a database relationship, an association between a driverin the driver information database 412, and the driving score associatedwith the driver. As described herein, the route designing system 202 mayassociate a driving score with a driver based at least on the vehicletelematics data received from a vehicle associated with the driver. Inother examples, the route designing system 202 may directly receive adriving score from the vehicle associated with the driver or analternate source.

The route information database 416 may store information associated witha traffic system. In some examples, a traffic system may be representedas mini-routes, where a mini-route may be segment of traffic system(e.g., one or more blocks). In such examples, for each mini-route, theroute information database 416 may store corresponding information, suchas coordinates, type of roadway (e.g., one-way street, two-way street,city street, highway, etc.), number of lanes, speed limit, etc. Theroute information database 416 may also capture statistics correspondingto a particular mini-route (e.g., by analyzing and aggregating vehicleoperation data collected form the vehicles 206, from a third-partysystem, etc.), such as an average speed limit, an average distancebetween vehicles, peak traffic hour, etc. In some examples, a mini-routemay be restricted to a drivers with insurance (or drivers associatedwith a particular insurance company), drivers with a threshold drivingscore, or vehicle classification (e.g., 2-axle passenger vehicles,2-axle commercial vehicles, 3-4 axle vehicles, 5-9 axle vehicles, orother similar classifications). Further, the route information database416 may maintain, e.g., through a database relationship, associationsbetween the mini-routes, such that the route designing system 202 maydetermine how to construct a route from one geographical point toanother geographical point using a plurality of mini-routes. Forexample, the traffic system may maintain that a first mini-route isassociated with a second mini-route, where the two mini-routes representcontiguous segments of one roadway. As such, the starting point of thesecond mini-route may be the end point of the first mini-route.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that additional oralternative models may be employed to represent a traffic system. Forexample, a traffic system may be represented as a graph having edges andnodes. The edges may represent a segment of a traffic system (e.g., oneor more blocks), and the nodes may represent intersections (i.e., thepoints at which one or more edges may intersect). As such, the routeinformation database 416 may store the edges, nodes, and correspondinginformation, such as coordinates, type of roadway (e.g., one-way street,two-way street, city street, highway, etc.), number of lanes, speedlimit, etc. The route information database 416 may also capturestatistics corresponding to a particular edge, as described above withrespect to mini-routes.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart 500 of example steps for designinga preferred route is shown. The various components of the routedesigning system 202 may be used to perform these method steps. Therequest receiver unit 402 may receive and analyze requests from avehicle 204 for a preferred route from a first geographical point to asecond geographical point (block 502). In some examples, the request maybe for immediate travel. In other examples, the request may specify afuture time of travel (e.g., <60 minutes after the current time, <12hours after the current time, <7 days after the current time, etc.).

The request receiver unit 402 may analyze the request to identify adriver associated with the vehicle 204, and locate the geographicalpoints specified in the requests. In some examples, the request receiverunit 402 may determine characteristics and preferences of the requestingdriver from the driver information database 412. The request receiverunit 402 may also standardize the geographical points provided in therequest. For instance, the driver of a vehicle 204 may providegeographical points as any of addresses, monuments/landmarks,longitude/latitude, etc. As such, the request receiver unit 402 maystandardize all geographic points to be represented in a standard format(e.g., addresses, monuments/landmarks, longitude/latitude, etc.). Indoing so, the request receiver unit 402 may be in signal communicationwith a third-party system (e.g., postal service system or otherthird-party address standardization systems). Alternatively, the requestreceiver unit 402 may standardize the geographical points based on thetraffic system represented in the route information database 416. Assuch, the request receiver unit 402 may identify a starting point and anend point of a preferred route based on the traffic system representedin the route information database 416.

The request receiver unit 402 may provide the information included inand/or determined from the request to the driving score analysis unit404. Based on the first geographical point and the second geographicalpoint, the driver score analysis unit 404 may determine one or morepotential routes from the first geographical point to the secondgeographical point (block 504). Each of the potential routes may consistof one or more contiguous segments of a traffic system (e.g., contiguousmini-routes, contiguous edges, etc.). Segments of a traffic system maybe contiguous where the end point of a first segment overlaps with or isadjacent to the starting point of a second segment. Each of thepotential routes may begin with a segment including (e.g., startingwith) the first geographical point, and may end with a segment including(e.g., ending with) the second geographical point.

In some examples, the driving score analysis unit 404 may identify allor almost all of the potential routes from the first geographical pointto the second geographical point. In such examples, the driving scoreanalysis unit 404 may consider a limited set of factors (e.g., avoidloops, avoid routes with construction, etc.) in order to identify asmany routes as possible. For instance, the driving score analysis unit404 may choose to ignore a particular set of inefficiencies (e.g.,travel time, gas consumption, speed limits, traffic congestion, etc.)when determining the potential routes. As such, at least some of thepotential routes identified by the driving analysis unit 404 in thisstep may be sub-optimal for the vehicle 204.

In other examples, the driving score analysis unit 404 may identify asubset of all the potential routes from the first geographical point tothe second geographical point. For instance, the subset may be the top(e.g., top five, etc.) routes based on the estimated time of arrival. Inanother example, the subset may be one route including highways, oneroute not including highways, and one route not including tolls. In yetother examples, the driving score analysis unit 404 may identify asubset of all the potential routes based on the desirability of themini-routes comprising the potential routes. A desirability level of amini-route may be calculated based on traffic data, weather data, hazarddata, and other contextual information received from third-partysystems. In these examples, the driving score analysis unit 404 mayidentify the top routes based on the desirability levels of themini-routes comprising the potential routes. Alternatively, the drivingscore analysis unit 404 may be configured to have a desirabilitythreshold, where the threshold may be a total desirability level of themini-routes of a potential route, an average desirability level of themini-routes of a potential route, etc. Based on this threshold, thedriving score analysis unit 404 may identify a subset of potentialroutes that meet or exceed the desirability threshold.

In at least some embodiments, the driving score analysis unit 404 mayreceive driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles 206(block 506). In alternate embodiments, the driving score analysis unit404 my receive vehicle telematics data associated with the othervehicles 206, where the driving score analysis unit 404 may calculatedriving scores associated with drivers of the other vehicles 206 basedon the vehicle telematics data, as described above. The driving scoreanalysis unit 404 may also receive other information from the othervehicles 206, such as a current location, a velocity (i.e., a speed anddirection of travel), and other relevant information about the movementof the vehicles 206.

The driving score analysis unit 404 may provide the driving scoresassociated with drivers of other vehicles 206 and other movement-relatedinformation to the route planning unit 406. Based, at least in part, onthe information received from the other vehicles 206, the route planningunit 406 may design a preferred route for the vehicle 204 (block 508).

The route planning unit 406 may identify a subset of the other vehicles206 which will be relevant in designing a preferred route for vehicle204 (block 510). In at least some embodiments, the route planning unit406 may use the current locations of the other vehicles 206 to identifya subset of vehicles 206 that are currently on or within a thresholdradius (e.g., 25 feet, 50 feet, 100 feet, 1 mile, etc.) away from atleast one of the segments of a potential route for the vehicle 204.Additionally, the route planning unit 406 may use the current locationsand other movement-related information of the other vehicles 206 toidentify a subset of vehicles 206 that are likely to be on or within athreshold radius away from at least one of the segments of a potentialroute for the vehicle 204. Further, the route planning unit 406 mayassociate each of the other vehicles 206 in the subset with the one ormore segments of a potential route. As such, the route planning unit 406may associate each of the other vehicles 206 in the subset with one ormore potential routes.

In some examples, to identify vehicles 206 that are currently on one ofthe segments, the route planning unit 406 may compare the currentlocations (e.g., coordinates, etc.) of the vehicles 206 with thecoordinates of the segments. As such, vehicles 206 with coordinatesoverlapping coordinates of a segment of a potential route may beconsidered on one of the segments. In another example, to identifyvehicles 206 that are likely to be on one of the segments simultaneouslywith the vehicle 204, the route planning unit 406 may calculate futurelocations (e.g., coordinates, etc.) of the vehicles based on themovement-related information. For instance, the future locations may becalculated based on the travel time specified in the request for apreferred route by the vehicle 204. In particular, the route planningunit 406 may use the current location of a vehicle 206 in combinationwith the velocity of the vehicle 206 to determine its coordinatesbeginning at the travel time specified in the request and ending at theestimated arrival time for a particular potential route.

In further examples, the movement-related information gathered from thevehicles 206 may include route information for the other vehicles 206.In such examples, the route planning unit 406 may use this informationto determine whether any of the other vehicles 206 are either in orlikely to be in a potential route for vehicle 204. For instance, theroute planning unit 406 may superimpose the potential routes for 204onto the route information for each of the vehicles 206 to determine anyoverlaps. In some examples, the route planning unit 406 may determinethat there is an overlap where a coordinate included in the routeinformation for vehicle 206 is also included in a potential route forvehicle 204. Alternatively, the route planning unit 406 may determinethat there is an overlap where a segment included in the routeinformation for vehicle 206 is also included in a potential route forvehicle 204. In some examples, where the route planning unit 406 mayfurther determine whether the identified overlap (e.g., coordinate,segment, etc.) occurs at a same or similar (e.g., within a particularthreshold of time) to the travel time specified in the request for apreferred route from vehicle 204. As such, a route planning unit 406 mayor may not consider a vehicle 206 to be overlapping where the vehicles204 and 206 are likely to be in the same coordinate or segment atdifferent times (e.g., beyond a particular threshold of time).

The route planning unit 406 may identify a set of preferred vehicles anda set of non-preferred vehicles from the subset of vehicles identifiedin block 510 (block 512). The route planning unit 406 may determine theset of preferred vehicles based on the driving scores. For instance, theset of preferred vehicles may include the other vehicles 206 associatedwith drivers having driving scores at or above a threshold value. Theroute designing system 202 may configure a standard threshold value(i.e., the threshold would be the same for all users of the routedesigning system 202). Alternatively, in some examples, the thresholdvalue may be defined by the driving scores of the vehicles in the subsetof vehicles (e.g., top x %, above the average driving score, etc.). Inother examples, the threshold value may be based on the driving score ofthe driver of the vehicle 204 (e.g., within 10% of the driver's drivingscore, at or above the driver's driving score, etc.). Similarly, theroute planning unit 406 may determine a set of non-preferred vehiclesbased on the driving scores. For example, the set of non-preferredvehicles may include the other vehicles associated with drivers havingdriving scores below a threshold value. The threshold value fornon-preferred may be configured inversely to the threshold value forpreferred vehicles. For example, where the threshold value for preferredvehicles is the top 10%, the threshold value for non-preferred valuesmay be configured as the bottom 90%.

The route planning unit 406 may then select a preferred route from theset of potential routes based in part on considerations of driver safety(block 514). For example, the route planning unit 406 may evaluate eachof the potential routes based on the set of preferred vehicles and theset of non-preferred vehicles. In particular, the route planning unit406 may select a preferred route by maximizing the likelihood ofproximity the set of preferred vehicles and minimizing the likelihood ofproximity to the set of non-preferred vehicles. As described in furtherdetail below, the route planning unit 406 may measure the likelihood ofproximity by analyzing the number of preferred and non-preferredvehicles along a potential route, by analyzing the distances between thepreferred and non-preferred vehicles and the vehicle 204, or byweighting the plurality of segments of a potential route with thedriving scores of the preferred and non-preferred vehicles along apotential route. As used in this description, a vehicle may be along apotential route where its location (e.g., coordinates) is included inone of the segments of a potential route or within a radius (e.g., 25feet, 50 feet, 100 feet, 1 mile, etc.) of the segments of a potentialroute. In some examples, in minimizing the likelihood of proximity tothe set of preferred vehicles, the route designing system 202 may ensurethat the vehicle 204 maintains at least a threshold distance (e.g., a25-foot radius, 50-foot radius, 100-foot radius, 1-mile radius, etc.)from some or all of the non-preferred vehicles.

In at least one embodiment, the route planning unit 406 may determinethe number of preferred vehicles and the number of non-preferredvehicles associated with each potential route. As described above, eachof the other vehicles 206 that is found to be relevant to designing apreferred route for the vehicle 204 may be associated with one or moresegments of one or more potential routes. In some examples, based onthese associations, the route planning unit 406 may determine a numberof preferred vehicles and a number of non-preferred vehicles associatedwith a potential route. As such, for each segment of a potential route,the route designing unit 406 may determine the number of preferredvehicles and the number of non-preferred vehicles associated with thesegment. The route designing unit 406 may aggregate these values toobtain the number of preferred vehicles associated with the potentialroute.

In some examples, the route designing unit 406 may select a preferredroute based on the aggregate number of preferred vehicles and theaggregate number of non-preferred vehicles associated with the preferredroute to maximize driver safety. For example, the route designing unit406 may select the route associated with the maximum number of preferredvehicles, without regard to the number of non-preferred vehicles. Inanother example, the route designing unit 406 may select the routeassociated with the minimum number of non-preferred vehicles, withoutregard to the number of preferred vehicles. In yet another example, theroute designing unit 406 may calculate a preferred vehicle differentialfor each potential route. As such, the route designing unit 406 maysubtract the number of non-preferred vehicles associated with apotential route from the number of preferred vehicles associated withthe potential route to obtain a preferred vehicle differential for thepotential route (e.g., Preferred Vehicle Differential=Number ofPreferred Vehicles−Number of Non-Preferred Vehicles). In such examples,the route designing unit 406 may select the route with the maximumpreferred vehicle differential. In a further example, the routedesigning system 406 may select the route by comparing the number ofpreferred vehicles to a threshold number of preferred vehicles and/orcomparing the number of non-preferred vehicles to a threshold number ofnon-preferred vehicles. As such, the route designing unit 406 may beconfigured to select the route where the number of preferred vehicles isequal to or greater than the threshold number of preferred vehicles, thenumber of non-preferred vehicles is equal to or less than the thresholdnumber of non-preferred vehicles, or a combination thereof. Where nosuch routes are available, the route designing unit 406 may select aroute based on one or more of the other methods described herein. Itwill be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other methods ofselecting a preferred route based on the number of preferred vehiclesand the number of non-preferred vehicles may be implemented by the routedesigning unit 406.

The following table reflects an example of the calculation, where thereare 5 potential routes for the vehicle 204.

Potential Number of Number of Route Preferred Vehicles Non-PreferredVehicles Route #1 6 3 Route #2 0 6 Route #3 5 5 Route #4 2 4 Route #5 20Where the route designing unit 406 selects the route associated with themaximum number of preferred vehicles, the route designing unit 406 inthis example would select Route #1. Where the route designing unit 406selects the route associated with the minimum number of preferredvehicles, the route designing unit 406 in this example would selectRoute #5. Where the route designing unit 406 selects the route with themaximum preferred vehicle differential, the route designing unit 406 inthis example would select Route #1.

In another embodiment, the route designing unit 406 may select apreferred route by comparing the locations of the preferred vehicles tothe locations (e.g., current location, future locations along thepotential route) of the vehicle 204 and/or comparing the locations ofthe non-preferred vehicles to the locations of the vehicle 204. As such,the route designing unit may calculate a distance between each of thepreferred vehicles and the vehicle 204 along the route, and a distancebetween each of the non-preferred vehicles and the vehicle 204 along theroute. The route designing unit 406 may then aggregate these distances.For instance, the route designing unit 406 may compute a set of metricsbased on the distances, such as a total distance from the preferredvehicles, a total distance from the non-preferred vehicles, the averagedistance from the preferred vehicles, the average distance from thenon-preferred vehicles, etc.

In some examples, the route designing unit 406 may select a preferredroute based on the aggregate distance of the vehicle 204 from thepreferred and non-preferred vehicles. For example, the route designingunit 406 may select the route with the lowest total distance or lowestaverage distance from the preferred vehicles, without regard to thetotal distance or average distance from the non-preferred vehicles. Inanother example, the route designing unit 406 may select the route withthe highest total distance or highest average distance from thenon-preferred vehicles, without regard to the total distance or averagedistance from the preferred vehicles. In yet another example, the routedesigning system 406 may select the route by comparing the distance fromeach preferred vehicle to a threshold preferred distance (e.g., a25-foot radius, 50-foot radius, 100-foot radius, 1-mile radius, etc.)and/or comparing the distance from each non-preferred vehicle to athreshold non-preferred distance (e.g., a 25-foot radius, 50-footradius, 100-foot radius, 1-mile radius, etc.). The threshold preferreddistance and the threshold non-preferred distance may be configured tobe the same or different. In such examples, the route designing system406 may determine a number of preferred vehicles that are at or belowthe threshold preferred distance and/or may determine a number ofnon-preferred vehicles that are at or below the threshold non-preferreddistance. As such, the route designing unit 406 may be configured toselect the route with the maximum number of preferred vehicles at orbelow the preferred distance, the minimum number of non-preferredvehicles at or below the non-preferred distance, the maximum preferreddistance differential (i.e. Preferred Vehicle Differential=Number ofPreferred Vehicles at or below the preferred distance=Number ofNon-preferred Vehicles at or below the non-preferred distance). It willbe appreciated by those skilled in the art that other methods ofselecting a preferred route based on the distances between the preferredvehicles, the non-preferred vehicles, and the vehicle 204 may beimplemented by the route designing unit 406.

In yet another embodiment, the route designing unit 406 may select apreferred route by weighting the segments of each potential route by thedriving scores associated with the preferred and non-preferred vehicles.In some examples, the route designing unit 406 may aggregate the drivingscores associated with the preferred and non-preferred vehiclesassociated with a particular segment of a potential route. The routedesigning module 406 may then aggregate the aggregated driving scoresfrom each segment to obtain an aggregated driving score for thepotential route. Since a preferred vehicle will be associated with ahigher driving score than a non-preferred vehicle, the route designingunit 406 may select the route with the highest aggregate driving score.Thus, the route designing unit 406 may enhance driving safety (e.g., byincreasing likelihood of proximity to preferred vehicles) by selectingroutes associated with higher aggregate driving scores.

In some embodiments, the route planning unit 406 may use additionalconsiderations to select a preferred route. For instance, the routeplanning unit 406 may select a preferred route based in part onreduction of travel time, reduction of gas usage, avoidance of trafficcongestion, any other driver-specified preferences, or a combinationthereof. For instance, the route planning unit 406 may use theseadditional considerations where two potential routes are equivalentbased on the driving safety consideration alone. For example, where twopotential routes for a vehicle 204 have a maximum preferred vehicledifferential of 10, the route designing unit 406 may consider additionalconsiderations to select one of the two potential routes as thepreferred route.

In other embodiments, the driver of the vehicle 204 provide the routedesigning system 406 (and/or the route designing system 202 at large)with a hierarchy of considerations to apply when selecting a preferredroute. In some examples, the driver may provide such a hierarchy for aone-time use (i.e., to be used only for one particular trip), or asdriving preferences. The route designing system 202 may store thedriving preferences in the driver information database 412. In someinstances, the driver of a vehicle 204 may provide the hierarchy ofconsideration through the route designing unit 208 or an interface on aspecial-purpose mobile computing device 210, such as a route designingmobile application and the like.

Once a preferred route has been selected, the route designing system 202may provide the preferred route to the vehicle 204 (or to the driver ofthe vehicle 204) through the route designing unit 208 (e.g., via anon-board vehicle computing device) or through the special-purpose mobilecomputing device 210. The preferred route may be communicated to thevehicle 204 (or to the driver of the vehicle 204) through softwareinstructions, textual instructions, audio instructions, graphicalinstructions, or a combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the route designing system 202 may update thepreferred route while the vehicle 204 is progressing along thecurrently-prescribed preferred route. As such, the route designingsystem 202 may repeat steps 506 through 514 until the vehicle 204arrives at Point B. In some examples, the route designing system 202 mayrepeat steps 506 through 514 at regular intervals (e.g., every 30seconds, every 1 minute, every 10 minutes, etc.).

In other examples, the route designing system 202 may repeat step 506 atregular intervals (e.g., every 30 seconds, every 1 minute, every 10minutes, etc.) to determine whether any new or updated informationrelated to the other vehicles 206 is available. For instance, the routedesigning system 202 may receive an updated location or route for one ofthe other vehicles 206 which makes the vehicle relevant to designing apreferred route for a vehicle. In particular, one of the other vehicles206 may have recently changed its route or direction, thereby increasingits likelihood of proximity to the vehicle 204. In another instance, theroute designing system 202 may receive an updated driving score for oneof the other vehicles 206. One of the other vehicles 206 may haveengaged in a driving behavior that causes an increase or decrease in itsdriving score.

In such examples where new or updated information related to at leastone of the other vehicles 206 is available, the route designing system202 may execute steps 508 through 514 to determine whether the preferredroute needs to be updated, due to, e.g., a change in at least one of thevehicles' 206 designation as a preferred or non-preferred vehicle, achange in the distance between the vehicle 204 and the other vehicles206, or a change in at least one of the vehicles' 206 driving scores. Assuch, in some examples, the route designing system 202 may update thepreferred route only where relevant data has been changed since theinitial route design, thereby advantageously conserving the computingresources of the route designing system 202.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the route designingsystem 202 may provide alerts to the driver of the vehicle 204. Thealerts may include instructions pertaining to the preferred route, orupdates to the preferred route, as described above. The route designingsystem 202 may provide alerts to the vehicle 204 (or to the driver ofthe vehicle 204) through the route designing unit 208 or through thespecial-purpose mobile computing device 210. The alerts may becommunicated to the vehicle 204 (or to the driver of the vehicle 204)through software instructions, textual instructions, audio instructions,graphical instructions, or a combination thereof.

In some examples, the route designing system 202 may provide alerts tothe driver of the vehicle 204 where the preferred route cannot beupdated in time. For instance, while repeating step 506 of FIG. 5, theroute designing system 202 may receive new or updated informationrelated to one of the other vehicles 206 (e.g., a non-preferredvehicle). For example, a non-preferred vehicle may be in extremely closeproximity to the vehicle 204 (e.g., within a 10-foot radius, within a25-foot radius, within 50-foot radius, etc.). Alternatively, anon-preferred vehicle may be exhibiting rogue, unexpected, or otherwiseunsafe driving behaviors. As such, instead of suddenly updating thepreferred route and giving the driver of the vehicle 204 limited time toreact to the update (and the resulting instructions), the routedesigning system 202 may choose to provide an alert to the driver of thevehicle 204. In such examples, the alert may supersede some of all ofthe instructions provided on the basis of the preferred route. Providingsuch alerts may advantageously bring the updated route information tothe attention of the driver of the vehicle 204, without instructing thedriver of the vehicle to engage in unsafe driving behaviors in order toavoid a non-preferred vehicle. In such examples, unsafe drivingbehaviors may include sudden/sharp turns, hard braking, suddenacceleration, and the like.

FIG. 6 is an example user interface 600 which may be configured toprovide alerts to the driver of the vehicle 204, as described above. Theuser interface 600 may be displayed an on-board vehicle computing deviceor via a special-purpose mobile computing device 210. In particular, afirst component 610 of the user interface 600 may be configured todisplay textual and graphical instructions pertaining to the upcomingsteps of the preferred route. As the route designing system 202 updatesthe preferred route, the steps shown in the first component 610 may beupdated accordingly. Further, a second component 620 of the userinterface 600 may be configured to display alerts pertaining to unsafe(i.e. non-preferred) vehicles. In some examples, the second component620 may indicate a level of severity of the alert (e.g., low risk,medium risk, high risk, etc.). The level of severity may be based, atleast in part, on the proximity of the non-preferred vehicle to thevehicle 204, the driving score of the non-preferred vehicle, or acombination thereof. In some embodiments, the textual instructions shownin the user interface 600 may be accompanied by audio instructions.

While the disclosure has been described with respect to specificexamples including presently illustrative modes of carrying out thisdisclosure, a person having ordinary skill in the art, after review ofthe entirety disclosed herein, will appreciate that there are numerousvariations and permutations of the above-described systems andtechniques that fall within the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A route designing system comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing computer-readable instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive, by the at least one processor, a request for a preferred route from a first geographical point to a second geographical point for a first vehicle; identify, by the at least one processor, a plurality of potential routes from the first geographical point to the second geographical point for the first vehicle; determine, by the at least one processor, driving scores associated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of vehicles does not include the first vehicle; identify, by the at least one processor, a set of preferred vehicles within the plurality of vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles within the plurality of vehicles based, at least in part, on the driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; associate, by the at least one processor, vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles with the plurality of potential routes; determine, by the at least one processor, a preferred route from the plurality of potential routes, wherein the preferred route is designed to maximize a likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and minimize the likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles; and output the preferred route to a visual user interface device located in the first vehicle, wherein the user interface comprises a first component configured to visually display textual information and a second component to display alerts.
 2. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate number of preferred vehicles and an aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate number of preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles associated with a potential route, and wherein the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with the potential route.
 3. The route designing system of claim 2 wherein the preferred route is the potential route with the highest aggregate number of preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.
 4. The route designing system of claim 2 wherein the preferred route is the potential route with the fewest aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.
 5. The route designing system of claim 2 wherein the preferred route is the potential route with the greatest difference between the aggregate number of preferred vehicles and the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.
 6. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate distance to preferred vehicles and an aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate distance to preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles, and wherein the aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the non-preferred vehicles.
 7. The route designing system of claim 6 wherein the preferred route is designed to maintain at least a threshold non-preferred distance between the first vehicle and at least some of the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles.
 8. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate driving score for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate driving score is cumulative of the driving scores of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with a potential route.
 9. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: transmit an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the preferred route.
 10. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and transmit an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the updated driving scores.
 11. The route designing system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to: determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and modify the preferred route based, at least in part, on updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles.
 12. A computer-assisted method of designing a preferred route comprising: receiving, by a processor, a request for a preferred route from a first geographical point to a second geographical point for a first vehicle; identifying, by the processor, a plurality of potential routes from the first geographical point to the second geographical point for the first vehicle; determining, by the processor, driving scores associated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of vehicles does not include the first vehicle; identifying, by the processor, a set of preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles based, at least in part, on the driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; associating, by the processor, vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles with the plurality of potential routes; determining, by the processor, a preferred route from the plurality of potential routes, wherein the preferred route is designed to maximize a likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and minimize the likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles; and outputting the preferred route to a visual user interface device located in the first vehicle, wherein the user interface comprises a first component configured to visually display textual information and a second component to display alerts.
 13. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate number of preferred vehicles and an aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate number of preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles associated with a potential route, and wherein the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with the potential route.
 14. The computer-assisted method of claim 13 wherein the preferred route is the potential route with the greatest difference between the aggregate number of preferred vehicles and the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.
 15. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate distance to preferred vehicles and an aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate distance to preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles, and wherein the aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles.
 16. The computer-assisted method of claim 15 wherein the preferred route is designed to maintain at least a threshold non-preferred distance between the first vehicle and at least some of the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles.
 17. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate driving score for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate driving score is cumulative of the driving scores of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with a potential route.
 18. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: transmitting an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the preferred route.
 19. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: determining updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and transmitting an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the updated driving scores.
 20. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 further comprising: determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and modify the preferred route based, at least in part, on updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles. 